An Integrated Approach to Benthic Habitat Classification of the North Eastern Qatar Marine Zone Using Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System, and in Situ Measurements

Abstract

A key aspect in the conservation management of the coastal marine zone is mapping the benthic habitat, which is the focus of the work presented in this project. Multispectral Worldview-2 (WV2) satellite data acquired in April 2010 was used to classify and map the benthic habitat of the North-Eastern part of Qatar marine zone: A 35 km stretch of coastline, 7km wide, with water depth ranging from 0 to 11 m. Baseline field surveys of the area of study carried out in March-April 2010 identified 4 broad benthic types: Seagrass, Algae, live corals and sand. WV2 data was corrected for atmospheric and water column effects. Depth-invariant bottom indices were calculated and formed the basis for classification. Field survey data was used to implement the supervised classification and accuracy assessment. From the result of the classification, an overall accuracy of 81.8% was obtained. The gap in the available information on the benthic cover in the Qatari coastal marine zone makes the study useful to detect changes in the benthic cover over time.